Cancellations & No-Shows

Cancellations are an inevitable part of running a booking-based business. Syntra helps you handle them professionally — with configurable policies, automatic fee charging, and customer self-service options.

Cancelling a Booking

To cancel a booking from your dashboard:

1. Go to Bookings and find the booking
2. Click the actions menu (⋮) and select Cancel
3. A confirmation dialog appears

What you see depends on the service's cancellation policy:

If no cancellation fee applies:

• A simple confirmation asking "Are you sure you want to cancel this booking?"
• Click Cancel Booking to confirm, or Keep Booking to abort

If a late cancellation fee applies (booking is within the cancellation window and the customer has a saved payment method):

• A warning showing "Late Cancellation Fee Applies"
• The fee amount and the card that will be charged
• Two options:
  • Charge & Cancel — Charges the fee to the customer's card, then cancels
  • Cancel Without Fee — Cancels without charging (at your discretion)

After cancellation:

• The booking status changes to Cancelled
• The time slot becomes available again
• The customer receives a cancellation email
• If a fee was charged, a separate fee notification email is sent
• The event is removed from your Google Calendar (if connected)

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Customer Self-Cancellation

Customers can cancel their own bookings using a secure link in their confirmation email.

How it works:

1. Customer clicks the cancellation link in their booking confirmation email
2. The link validates their identity using a secure token
3. They confirm the cancellation
4. If a late cancellation fee applies and they have a saved payment method, the fee is charged automatically
5. Both parties receive confirmation emails

Enabling customer cancellation:

Customer self-cancellation is controlled in your system settings. You can configure:

• Enable/disable cancellation — Toggle whether customers can cancel at all
• Minimum notice — How far in advance a customer must cancel (e.g., 1 hour before the appointment)

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Cancellation Policies

Cancellation policies are configured per service — different services can have different rules.

To set up a cancellation policy:

1. Go to Services and edit the service
2. Toggle on Cancellation Policy
3. Configure the settings:

Setting	Description
Cancellation Window	How far before the appointment the fee kicks in (e.g., 24 hours). Cancellations outside this window are free
Late Cancellation Fee Type	Percentage of service price, or a fixed amount
Late Cancellation Fee Amount	The percentage (e.g., 30%) or fixed amount (e.g., £25)
No-Show Fee Type	Percentage or fixed amount
No-Show Fee Amount	The percentage (e.g., 50%) or fixed amount
Fee Calculation Base	Calculate fees on the service price only, or include extras
Grace Period	Free cancellation window after booking (default: 120 minutes). Customers can cancel for free during this period regardless of the cancellation window
Card Validation Message	Custom message shown to customers explaining the policy when they book

How the cancellation window works:

• Appointment at 2:00 PM, cancellation window: 24 hours
• Before 2:00 PM the day before → Free cancellation (outside window)
• After 2:00 PM the day before → Late cancellation fee applies (within window)

Grace period example:

• Customer books at 10:00 AM, grace period: 120 minutes
• 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM → Free cancellation (within grace period)
• After 12:00 PM → Standard cancellation rules apply

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Late Cancellation Fees

When a booking is cancelled within the cancellation window and the customer has a saved payment method, a late cancellation fee can be charged.

Fee calculation:

The fee is calculated based on your service's policy settings:

• Percentage-based: Fee = (service price × fee percentage) ÷ 100
• Fixed amount: Fee = the configured fixed amount
• With extras: If "Fee Calculation Base" is set to "service and extras", the extras total is added to the base before calculating

Requirements for automatic fee charging:

• The service must have a cancellation policy enabled
• The booking must be within the cancellation window
• The customer must have a saved payment method (card on file from a previous deposit or payment)
• The fee must be at least £0.50 (Stripe minimum)
• The booking must NOT be within the grace period

Fee status tracking:

Each booking tracks its fee status:

• Pending — Fee calculated but not yet charged
• Charged — Fee successfully charged to customer's card
• Failed — Charge attempt failed (card declined, expired, etc.)
• Refunded — Fee was charged but later refunded by admin

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Handling No-Shows

A no-show is when a customer doesn't arrive for their appointment. You can mark bookings as no-shows and optionally charge a fee.

To mark a no-show:

1. Find the past booking in your Bookings list
2. Click the actions menu (⋮) and select Mark No-Show

If a no-show fee applies (service has a cancellation policy and the customer has a saved payment method):

• A modal appears showing the fee amount and the card on file
• Choose:
  • Charge — Charges the no-show fee to the customer's card
  • Skip Fee — Marks as no-show without charging

If no fee applies:

• The booking is immediately marked as No-Show

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Refunding Fees

If you've charged a late cancellation or no-show fee and want to refund it (e.g., the customer had a genuine emergency), you can do so from the booking details.

To refund a charged fee:

1. Open the booking details (the cancelled or no-show booking)
2. Click the actions menu (⋮) and select Refund Fees
3. A modal shows all charged fees for this booking:
   • Late cancellation fee (if charged) — amount, date charged, and status
   • No-show fee (if charged) — amount, date charged, and status
4. Click Refund next to the fee you want to refund

The refund is processed through Stripe back to the customer's original payment method. The fee status updates to Refunded and the customer receives a notification.

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